When maintenance is carried out on vehicles, machinery and the like, it is often the case that bearings need to be re-packed with grease to ensure efficient running of the bearing and to improve the service life of the bearing.
In the particular case of a sedan or station wagon, the bearings are of relatively small diameter and the usual way that the bearings are packed with grease is by tapping the bearing against the hand which has an amount of grease located thereon. This tapping is continued until the bearing is fully packed. In the case of larger motor vehicles such as multi-wheeled transport vehicles and heavy duty work vehicles, the bearings are of a much greater diameter and therefore a substantial amount of time would be required to pack the bearings with grease using this particular procedure.
The aforementioned procedure also has the difficulty that the bearings may not be packed to the desired extent and also to the fact that it is a recurring problem that dirt and other grit may not be able to be excluded from within the bearing. This is particularly the case where the hands of the person packing the bearing are often not completely clean prior to the commencement of the procedure.
Bearings may be packed using commercially available grease packers which operate using cones which screw together on a central thread and grease is then introduced to the bearing situated between the cones using a grease gun. This method has many features which are less than desirable such as:
(i) many other types of bearing packers use a hand grease gun to apply grease to the packing device, if a manual non-power assisted gun is used much effort and time is wasted as a grease gun is a low volume/high pressure device, PA1 (ii) the time taken to screw the cones together is a time consuming procedure, PA1 (iii) after a greasing operation, the device has many surfaces from which the grease must be removed, so as to keep the device clean, PA1 (iv) unless the whole device is kept under cover, dust and grit will enter the threads and surfaces of the cones, thereby causing contamination during the next greasing operation, PA1 (v) to initiate work, one must purchase both a grease gun and also a bearing packer adding to the cost. PA1 (i) a non-rigid bearing holder defining a conical chamber having a first open end and a second open end through which the bearing may be loaded into the packer with the outer race sitting on the inner wall of the conical chamber and the bearing spaced from the first open end, PA1 (ii) a non-rigid insert having a first end defined by a stub adapted to pass through the inner race of a bearing located in the conical chamber and a conical outer surface adapted to seat against the inner race of the bearing located in the conical chamber, said insert having a second end, and PA1 (iii) grease applying means connectable to the bearing holder adapted to force grease through the first opening of the bearing holder and into the bearing so as to pack the bearing with grease.
Some other types of bearing packers, use a conical piston inside a blind ended cylinder, which prior to use, must first be loaded with grease using either a grease gun or a spatula to bring grease from a remote container. Again, there is unnecessary time inconvenience and the likelihood of dust/grit or foreign matter entering the bearing. With this style of packer it may not be possible to observe the bearing during packing operations, leading to under greasing or wasting of grease.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for packing grease into bearings which substantially overcomes or ameliorates the abovementioned disadvantages.